"Try my craft, this is my carefully secret soup base, Qiaoqiao and I are eating it for the first time, I don't know what it tastes like!"

There are several plates on the table, which are naturally incomparable to the richness of the hot pot eaten in later generations, but there are also dishes and meat. The meat was mutton, and Li Mu asked the cook to pick the fat and thin good meat and cut it into thin slices, and cut a total of five plates. At the moment, the weather is not cold enough, and when it snows in a few days, it will be much easier to eat the meat slices. Now it can only be cut piece by piece, which is very troublesome.

And the only dishes are spinach and cabbage, which is not that Li Mu is reluctant to spend money. There was no food to eat in the Tang Dynasty, which was also what made Li Mu feel congested. After he came to the Tang Dynasty, he didn't realize this problem. The people of Dingxiang and Ma Yi eat wild vegetables, and he only thinks that the people in the border town are poor and can't afford to eat other vegetables, so he doesn't think deeply. After arriving in Chang'an, he learned that the Tang Dynasty was so poor in vegetables. Not only peppers, but also tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, beans, potatoes...... None at all.

What's there?

There are five kinds of common green vegetables, sunflower, weed, leek, woad, and camellia. Kwai is winter sunflower, and weed is the young leaf of soybean seedlings; Leeks are leeks, and the leeks of the Tang Dynasty are basically the same as those of later generations; Woad is cabbage; Capsule, which is shepherd's cabbage, and the root is dried and ground is mustard. Of these five so-called vegetables, Li Mu has only eaten cabbage and leeks, and few people in later generations will eat the other three.

These five are the dishes that the common people can afford, and there are five 'noble' dishes. All of them are imported products, spinach and carrots imported from Persia, long beans and eggplants imported from Tianzhu, lettuce imported from the Silk Road.

In addition to these, there are only some wild vegetables, lotus roots, mushrooms and other vegetables that are only available in a few places.

It sounds like a lot, but many dishes are only eaten at a specific time, and because of the cultivation level and climate, they are only eaten once or two a year. can make Li Mu worried, but he can also understand. In this era, it is a difficult problem for ordinary people to have a good stomach, and how can they have the leisure to study vegetables. What he observed also confirmed what he thought, no one but him cared what the greens ate. The poor drink porridge, the rich eat noodles, and the nobles eat meat, or fish...... No one seems to care about what the vegetables eat, at most it is just worrying about choking when eating dry food, and boiling a pot of wild vegetable soup.

If it weren't for the fact that it was almost winter, Li Mu really wanted to learn the planting skills and grow all these vegetables. But then he thought about it again, and fortunately he wasn't impulsive. Otherwise, there were suddenly more than a dozen new species inexplicably, and he couldn't explain it clearly. Even if you want to get it out, you have to find an excuse, such as asking for a lot of money, or trading it when the envoys of other countries pay tribute, etc., you have to find a reasonable reason.

The problem of the vegetable basket can't be solved for a while, and this hot pot can only cook a little cabbage and spinach. These two kinds of green vegetables were not bought by Li Mu, and there are no vegetables sold in the east and west cities...... These two kinds of green vegetables are from Li Ji's house. Only the Guogong Mansion, in this late autumn season, you can still have some green vegetables to eat.

Zhang Tianai was a little stunned when he saw Li Mu put the vegetables and meat into boiling water and boiled them. She had never seen such a way to eat, but she had seen spinach and baby cabbage, and the green vegetables could be seen at this time, which made her heart quite happy. Although she grew up in a horse bandit's den, she doesn't like greasy, but likes light food, and she naturally likes green vegetables.

Zhang Tianai remembered that Li Mu liked to eat meat, and when she ate at noon, she didn't have these green vegetables, so naturally, she thought that these green vegetables were specially prepared for her by Li Mu. This gave her a strange feeling that since she was a child, there had never been a man other than her father who had treated him so unrequited. I panicked for no reason, lowered my head, and pounded in the bowl with chopsticks.

The cook's knife skills are still good, the mutton slices are cut very thinly, the water is already boiling, and the meat slices are cooked when they enter the water. Li Mu took out the cooked mutton slices, first to Bai Qiaoqiao, and then to Zhang Tianai, seeing her tinkering in the bowl, he said with a smile: "The sauce is already blended, no need to mix it anymore." Saying that, he put the meat slices into Zhang Tianai's bowl and said: "Eat the meat slices with dipping sauce, if you feel spicy, you will eat the meat in the pot on the left side, there is a partition in the middle, and the clear soup on the left is not spicy." ”

"Oh......" Zhang Tianai still didn't dare to look up, looked at the meat slices in the bowl, peeked at how Li Mu ate it, followed his example, picked it up and dipped it in some sauce, and put it in his mouth. The mutton was tender and springy, slightly spicy, and after eating this mouthful of meat, my cheeks were red.

Bai Qiaoqiao's face also turned red, Li Mu handed over the prepared water, and glanced at Zhang Tianai, Zhang Tianai shook his head and said that he didn't need it, but he still put the meat slices on the side of the clear soup.

Li Mu smiled and didn't say anything. He had long guessed that they were choking enough to get used to eating, after all, spicy taste was not a common taste in the lives of the people of the Tang Dynasty.

At this time, Li Zhien came back after dealing with the things in the front yard, and saw that the three of them were eating happily, swallowed saliva, but did not serve the table, but stood obediently behind Bai Qiaoqiao, right in front of Li Mu. After Li Mu finished eating the meat in the bowl, he was about to stretch out his chopsticks to clamp it, when he happened to see Li Zhien standing opposite. Li Zhien's eyes locked on his chopsticks. Li Mu lifted the chopsticks, her little head also lifted, Li Mu stretched out her arm, she also moved, Li Mu picked up a piece of mutton, and she swallowed her saliva. The most speechless thing is that she didn't say she wanted to eat, so she looked at it with a pitiful look.

In the end, Li Mu was defeated and said, "Go get a pair of chopsticks by yourself." ”

"Thank you, host!" Li Zhien responded happily, twisted his waist, and the person had already run out, and before he could take three breaths, the person came back. She lives next to it, and she always has a pair of dishes and chopsticks in the house.

Li Mu apologized to Zhang Tianai and said: "This little girl is a slave maid I bought in the West Market, she is very effective, when I am not at home, thanks to her accompanying Qiaoqiao, Qiaoqiao treats her as a sister, and they are usually together when they eat, no big or small, don't mind." ”

Zhang Tianai hurriedly said: "How can you mind, Zhi'en, this kid is very good, we chatted very well in the afternoon." ”

It was the first time that Li Zhien heard Li Mu praise her in front of outsiders, and he stuck out his tongue embarrassedly. Bai Qiaoqiao raised her hand and touched the back of her head and sandwiched two pieces of meat for her.

"The front yard is arranged?"

Li Zhien nodded, stuffed the meat in his mouth, and replied vaguely: "I cooked the meat, roasted the sheep, and moved the wine, I told the big one to take care of it." ”

"That's good." Li Mu glanced at Li Zhien, took a piece of meat and hid it at the other end of the copper pot, secretly dipped it in some mustard powder, and then put it in Li Zhien's bowl, and said quietly: "It's hard work, eat more." ”

"Thank you, host!" Li Zhien looked innocent, and in front of Li Mu, he sandwiched the meat slices...... Put it in the pot again and rinse it.

Li Mu's face darkened, and Li Zhien smiled smugly at him and stuffed the meat into his mouth.

Recently, this little girl has become more and more sophisticated, and Li Mu's tricks are becoming more and more ineffective. Bai Qiaoqiao caught a glimpse of it, covered her mouth and snickered. Zhang Tianai didn't know what she was laughing at, and when she cast an inquiring look, Bai Qiaoqiao came to her ear and whispered a few words, and she also laughed.

Li Mu was deflated and a little faceless, but fortunately, Li Zhien didn't demolish him, so he was cheeky and didn't do anything else, and he was eating meat in shabu by himself, and he stopped flirting.

Time passed slowly, and it was almost time to eat. Zhang Tianai hesitated for a moment and said, "What did you say at noon......"

"I remember, I was about to tell you." Li Mu was almost finished, wiped his mouth, and said, "Speaking of grace, I can't help, and I can't do anything on my father's side." But what you said about it, if you just want to give Zhangjiazhai the old and young a good citizen, I can help a little. ”

"How can I help?"

"Dingxiang City is being rebuilt, you know about it."

"Hmm." Zhang Tianai nodded, she often went back and forth between Zhangjiazhai and Mayi, passing by Dingxiang, and every time she could see many people working in full swing.

"Li Siwen, the county commander of Dingxiangcheng, is my brother-in-law, and his father is my father-in-law, General Li Jida. He is now the commander of Dingxiang County, presiding over the reconstruction of the city, recruiting displaced people, etc., which is the time to employ people. If the young and old of Zhangjiazhai are willing, I can write him a letter. Even if he has some involvement, for my sake, he will agree to the naturalization of the old and young in Zhangjiazhai. ”

"Li Siwen?" Zhang Tianai frowned slightly, always feeling that he had heard this name somewhere. Bai Qiaoqiao saw that she didn't remember, so she gestured in front of her forehead and reminded: "The one who cried my husband that day, the one with a bag here......"

"Him?!" Zhang Tianai frowned tightly and said, "The person you are talking about...... He, how could he make it? ”

Li Mu hurriedly said: "Don't judge people by their appearance, although my righteous brother seems to be unreliable, he is actually ...... Well, he has a child's heart, and he listens to me, as long as I fix a book, he will definitely do what I want. There is certainly no problem with naturalization. ”

Hearing that Li Mu didn't seem to be very confident, Zhang Tian's suspicion in love was even worse, and he said, "Really? ”

"I use my credibility as a guarantee, and there will definitely be no problem with naturalization."

Seeing that Li Mu said it in a firm tone this time, Zhang Tianai believed it and said, "Then try it, there is no other way anyway." ”

Li Mu thought for a while and said, "I don't know if I should say a word...... Well, I'll just say it. After listening to you talk about this, I have been thinking that your father may be different from what you think, and he seems to be more than just a simple matter of wanting Zhangjiazhai to become a naturalized citizen. It is easy to do naturalization, but if you want to accept the imperial court recruitment with Zhangjiazhai as a whole, you can seek an official and a half-job...... As it stands, the odds are very low, and I hope you can persuade him to dispel this idea. ”